Moorpark Schools Cannot Rescind Sale of Land, Judge Rules

The Moorpark Unified School District cannot back out of an agreement to sell a parcel of idle land to the city, a Ventura Superior Court judge ruled Friday in a compromise decision.

But the price to be paid for the land in the bitterly disputed deal still must be negotiated, Judge Bruce A. Thompson said.

Thompson agreed with the city of Moorpark that the school district was obligated to sell eight acres of a defunct high school campus to the city for a quarter of its market value. But instead of forcing an immediate sale at the city’s offered price he ordered the city and the school district to have the property reappraised and to resume negotiations.

“We didn’t get 100% of what we wanted, but we got 90%,” said Deputy City Manager Richard Hare, who said the city was generally pleased with the judge’s ruling. The city wants to buy the land to build a downtown park.

“Neither side got what they wanted and both got something,” said school district attorney Gregory M. Bergman, who said an appeal was likely.

At issue is a portion of the campus at Memorial Union High School, a 70-year-old facility in downtown Moorpark that was closed about a year ago. The school district’s enrollment growth--about 12% annually--is occurring mostly in newly developed sections of the city, and it does not need the site for a school.

The City Council is under community pressure to build a downtown park. But the school district hopes to finance new schools elsewhere by developing the old high school into a townhouse project.

Density Dispute

Yearlong negotiations over the land sale have been complicated by disagreements over how densely the old campus should be developed and other issues, including how much the city should pay for the proposed park site. The city offered $319,750 for the site, but the school district wanted $980,000.

The city sued the school district in June in an attempt to force a sale.

Bergman said if the school board appealed Friday’s ruling it could set a precedent as the first legal challenge to a 1980 state education code provision known as the Naylor Act.

Under the Naylor Act, a city or other public entity may purchase 30% of a school district’s surplus land for as little as 25% of market value. While the law’s intent--to preserve parks and recreational space--is clear, its application is in dispute.

Hare claimed it was meant to protect “taxpayers from paying twice for public land.” But Bergman suggested that “schools don’t have to roll over every time the city wants something, because the school district has its own needs.”

Hare and other city officials said the Moorpark school district offered to sell portions of the high school property under provisions of the Naylor Act--then tried to renege in an attempt to gain leverage over the city. The school district and the city also are discussing how to rezone and redevelop the site. Site plans require City Council approval.

But the school district claims districts are exempt from the Naylor Act when they need to raise money for new schools.

Bergman blames the state Office of Local Assistance for compelling the school district to sell the land at market value, instead of at the lower Naylor price.

Both sides agreed Friday that renewing price negotiations now leaves the city and the school district at almost the same point in their dispute as before the lawsuit was filed.

“It’s been a very complicated legal proceeding between two public entities, each with its own objectives and constituencies to serve,” Hare said.